Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

Is anyone else desperately searching for flights out of this frozen tundra?? I know I am. And as much as I’d love a quick getaway, schedules and money are just slightly getting in the way. So if you can’t get away to the heat…bring it!

Let me start off by issuing an apology to any of my South Indian readers: I am sorry. This is not an authentic Sambar. For those who are less familiar, sambar is a traditional South Indian lentil and vegetable soup and is an accompaniment to pretty much any South Indian meal. You can dip your idli (rice cake) or dosa (rice flour crepe) in the spicy/tangy/savory broth. Or you can have it over rice, or the way I do: straight out of the bowl. This version came about after some extensive online searches for sambar recipes, as well as some deep soul searching into what ingredients I can make do with thus saving myself a trip to the store. I did not use Tur daal, as is traditionally used in sambars. No coconut or curry leaves. This is basically my usual daal, but with the addition of:

mixed vegetables – so I can sneak some more veggies into my kids

tamarind – to provide that distinctly tart taste

cumin, coriander and chili powder – for a well rounded and spicy flavor profile

and ketchup…because I was out of tomatoes.

I know, I know! Ketchup! But things changed when I got a bottle of REAL ketchup. Like organic ketchup, with no high fructose corn syrup. It’s not overpoweringly sweet. It tastes like…tomatoes. So it was really a wonderful substitute in this dish. I actually think I’m going to add it to more dishes (e.g. like my mother in law’s sweet chicken curry…the whole sauce is ketchup based!).

You can add as few or as many red chilis as you like. Just keep in mind, the longer you cook the chilis and sambar together, the spicier it will be. I prefer to just smush the chilis into the broth as I’m eating, little by little. But that’s only if you can handle the heat.

Ingredients

1/2 cup masoor daal, rinsed with water and picked through for any impurities

Directions

Rinse the lentils in a medium saucepan and add the 8 cups of water. Add garlic and 2 of the chilis and bring to a boil over high heat. Watch carefully as it might overflow.

Reduce heat to medium high and skim off the foam on top. Add the vegetables, salt, turmeric, coriander, cumin and chili powder and cook until lentils are cooked through (about 10 to 12 minutes).

While that is going, heat the olive oil in a small to medium fry pan over medium heat. Add the onions and stir occasionally. When starting to brown around the edges, lower the heat and add the pach forom, minced garlic and remaining two chilis. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

In a small bowl, dissolve the tamarind with some of the liquid from the sauce pan. Add back into the saucepan, along with ketchup and fried onion mixture. Add the cilantro and check for seasonings. It should have a slightly salty bite.

Warning: this post isn’t about finding the mother of all haleem recipes. I’m not even gonna say it will give your grandma’s a run for her money (though it’s darn good). No, this post is about accessibility. Haleem is not an enigma. Sure, there’s barley, wheat, lentils, even dried papaya. But you don’t have to go out of your way looking for ingredients you don’t usually stock your pantry with. Nor do you have to run to Jamaica or Jackson Heights, or wherever you go for your fix. Instead, you pick up a box of Shan’s Easy Cook Haleem mix and get ready to wow the salwars off your friends and family.

Let me first back up a bit for those of you who aren’t familiar. Haleem is a thick, spicy stew made by creating a flavorful broth of spices and meat (usually goat meat or chicken), then thickening with lentils, barley and wheat. It is traditionally eaten during Ramadan, at iftar (or evening breakfast). But it’s so warm, spicy and hearty – it’s really ideal for the dead of winter!

The box includes a spice mix (which you totally don’t need all of). It is really, really spicy and salty, so I only use like 2/3 of the packet. Use 1/2 if you’re a spice eating lightweight. It also includes the lentils and grains, pulverized, so you wouldn’t need to soak them overnight like in a traditional haleem. Again – accessibility! The instructions neglect one very important ingredient: garlic/ginger paste (or finely minced garlic and ginger). Make sure to add a good heaping tablespoon to the meat as it cooks. And finally, contrary to what it says on the box, it is not ready in 30 minutes, even if you have a pressure cooker! For me, goat meat (or mutton) takes a good hour and half over a low flame, with the lid on, to get fully tender. I also get the onions going very early on, because I like to caramelize my onions low and slow. Once you do add the grains, they tend to clump up. So add them slowly, and stir continually, to breakdown any clumps.

Traditionally, you serve it with chopped cilantro, grated ginger, crispy onions, a slice of lemon/lime, and perhaps some green chilis. Not here. I loathe fresh ginger and raw chilis. I just like to add the cilantro and citrus to brighten up an otherwise long-going stew (cook time was 2 hrs!). This serves about 8-10 people. And even though Ramadan is coming to an end, it’s a great dish for your Eid spread!

Ingredients

1 box Shan Haleem mix (including spice mix and grains)

1/2 cup oil

1 heaping tbsp garlic/ginger paste

1.5 lbs mutton or chicken (don’t cop out and make the chicken one!), cut into pieces

Directions

In a large pot, heat up half a cup of vegetable oil or ghee over medium high heat. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of the spice packet. Add the meat and garlic/ginger paste and stir to combine.

Add water, bring to a boil over high heat. Then lower the heat, put the lid back on and simmer for an hour, hour and a half. Stir occasionally to make sure no funky stuff is going on. Meat should be tender and falling off the bones when done. Taste for seasoning.

While the meat is going, thinly slice the onion and add to a separate fry pan over low heat, to two tablespoons oil. Stir occasionally, increasing frequency towards the end. It take a bit of babysitting (after about 20 minutes) to make sure the edges don’t burn. Once they’re browned, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, from the haleem pot: take the meat out, and shred it using your hands or two forks. Then add the meat back into the broth along with the contents of the grains packet. Stir continuously to make sure there are no clumps. After 20-30 minutes, add caramelized onions and remove from heat. Add a cup of water if it looks too thick.

For Bengalis, rain does not mean good books, cozy blankets or hunter boots. Nor does snow signal hot chocolate, snowmen or shoveling. No, for Bengalis, any sort of precipitation means only one thing: khichuri. Growing up, I always noticed, though never understood why on any overcast, slightly cool day, the first thing my dad would request was khichuri. I’d think to myself, in the usual teenage overly dramatic Holden Caulfield voice: Khichuri is just rice and daal cooked together…WHAT is the big deal? So, like Peter in The Snowy Day (can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of big and little people classics?), I thought and thought and thought about it.

What I noticed was this: khichuri is almost always accompanied by things you’re likely to have on hand. A quick omelet with onions and green chilis. A raw onion and red pepper bhorta (mashed with salt and mustard oil). Or any variety of pickles. Because people back home aren’t likely to venture out to the bazaar on a rainy day. Slinging through the mud when perhaps the vendors themselves might not even show up. This might be a foreign concept to someone who lives in New York, where you can find someone on a jet ski in the middle of a hurricane. But in Bangladesh, where intermittent electricity and insufficient refrigeration send most to the bazaar on a daily basis (often on unpaved roads), an excuse to stay home most welcome.

I like to use a short grain, fragrant rice called Kalijeera for my khichuri. The mung bean (moong dal) can be swapped out for red lentils (masoor dal) but will of course change the taste of the dish. And though I initially stated that Bengali precipitation associations don’t include any sort of warm or fuzzies, that’s not 100% accurate. Once the rice and lentils/beans have steamed to perfection along with all the warm spices, the aroma that wafts out of the kitchen is the olfactory equivalent of great big bear hug.

Directions

In a medium to large stock pot, toast the mung bean over medium high heat until fragrant and slightly browned. Empty into a separate container and set aside.

Pour oil into the pot and add the onions. After softening for 4 to 5 minutes, add the garlic/ginger, turmeric and coriander. Mix well. Add the rice, toasted mung bean and butter and mix until well combined and the butter is melted.

Add the remaining ingredients, stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, reduce to a simmer over low heat and cover. Should be done in 15 to 20 minutes. Check for doneness at 15 minutes, fluff with a fork, and continue to steam for an extra 5 minutes if needed. Check for seasoning. I needed 2.5 tsp of kosher salt.

Keep in mind this recipe is the best I could do between my mother and mother in law’s recipes, where ingredients are stated in handfuls, liquids measured by the finger, and seasoning is always to taste. God bless them =)